Black Cat and His Lady
by Midnight Saki
Summary: Her ashes sifted through his hands like sand as he desperately tried to gather the last specks of her. She had died smiling, before she spoke the words that broke him. "That's when I fell in love with you, Adrien." In a world without Ladybug, Chat Noir is the last hope against a threat bigger than Hawkmoth. Set after S3.
1. The beginning: Coup de foudre

A/N: I just wanted to thank everyone for the reviews, follows and favourites! It really warms my heart seeing others enjoy this story!

This is actually going to be a full-fledged story. It's basically kind of a novel in the making. I also want to clear up that despite the plot line in this story, it is a Adrienette/LadyNoir centered romance story. It might be a little slow-paced to start off but it does pick up!

Thanks for reading this. I hope you enjoy the story!

Bless you guys ~Saki

* * *

**Black Cat and His Lady**

Prologue | The Beginning: Coup De Foudre

She was sixteen when she lay dying in a pool of her own blood.

There had been a crimson flash before she collided with concrete and met the ground face first. Her eyes were instantly enshrouded in grey dust and she fought to blink her eyes open through flickering black dotted vision as she shook the searing ache that thudded in her temples. Her ribs slammed off the concrete with such force she had spat virulent red from her lungs. Threads of white light escaped her cracked lips, mixed with regurgitated blood spewed out in the coughing fit that attacked her.

The inhuman armor of her suit had prevented her from passing on impact. The height of the fall would have killed an ordinary person with no doubt. But her body screamed at her as she rolled onto her side and attempted to crawl. Unbearable agony consumed her being and she couldn't comprehend the volume of her own shrill outcries for help, whether they were hollering shrieks that permeated a burning Paris like she hoped or hoarse whispers that reached no one.

Her body was beginning to fail her even as it tried to heal with the powers of the miraculous.

"T-Tikki." She called out weakly, seeking the familiar anxious squeak of her friend that she fully expected to fret over her. When her kwami remained unresponsive, dread filled her.

Shit.

That meant that her earrings were damaged and needed time to regenerate. But time was a commodity she couldn't afford not to have. Her mind grasped for a plan of action, but thinking wouldn't come as naturally in the state she had gotten herself into. At least an explanation had now been offered as to why her yo-yo had vanished mid-swing as she'd barreled round the Eiffel tower, inches from Hawkmoth and Chat engaged in combat.

It also explained why she had transformed back into her alter ego without intending to. She recognized that her Ladybug self had reverted back to her normal Marinette self by the scraping of her naked fingertips digging sharp into ridged edges of stone, cutting into her callouses as she tried to drag herself across open ground.

_"Ladybuuggggg-"_

Chat Noir's scarcely coherent wail echoed from far above her.

She strained her eyes to glance upwards. Through blurry vision, she could make out the suited figure hurling himself onto his silver staff recklessly as he hastened to get down to her. Her body trembled as she hopelessly tried to scramble to her feet. She cried out as her forearms collapsed, and she haplessly landed on her back. Her heavy eyes caught the sight of light drizzle falling from an ashen sky. Fear shook her as a singular drop of rain ricocheted off her numbing cheekbone. Static noise rang in her ears and her blood ran colder.

Marinette wasn't ready to die.

She was desperately grappling at straws to defy her failing self. Her pain was slowly disappearing from her, her dwindling life dangling by a rope she felt dissipating. The thought would have panicked her more if not for the energy that was leaving her. A stark realization set in and settled, washing a wave of cold calm over her. Her time was slowing and she seen her lifetime of a mere sixteen years passing by her in the moments she held most dear.

The quiet evenings making macaroons and baking bread with her father in their dimly lit bakery, a shop of tasty treasures hidden in a corner of Paris which belonged to a world of their own for a night. Her mother beaming with pride as she showed her drafted fashion sketches with bashful excitement on a desk sprawled in creative mess. A randomly selected assortment of students placed in to a mundane classroom that filled with laughter as they became willingly bound to the ties of friendship.

And a blonde boy offering her his umbrella, smiling as he stood drenched in the rain.

She was going to die anyway.

.

.

.

Chat Noir's knees dropped to the wet faster than his suited boots.

Adrenaline coursed his veins and shot throughout his entire body as fear overtook him and he slammed into the cold ground beneath him. He let go of his staff, allowing it to rattle with the pitter-patter of the light rain as it rolled onto concrete. His heartbeat thudded in his ears and he just barely caught her small frame as she collapsed onto her back after her fruitless attempts to stand, and cushioned her as best he could.

It wasn't good enough.

He should've been fast enough to catch her the first time.

She was paler than he'd ever known her to be, her complexion withering of color. Her body felt heavier than it should've, near limp in his arms as he held her. A shiver ran down his spine when he brushed her skin as she was deathly cold to touch even through his gloved hands. Perhaps it was strong denial, but he quickly reasoned that it couldn't be as bad as it seemed and that her chilled temperature was just the rain poring over her. His lady had never shown vulnerability before, after all.

It wasn't hard for him to discern that Ladybug had transformed back to her unmasked self, but that didn't matter as she was still unrecognizable. Dried blood and clouts of grey dirt clung to her matted hair and her pale skin. Coated asphalt on her face hid her well as it set more thickly veiled than even her heroine mask.

"Chat..."

Her voice croaked out a murmur, whispering so hoarsely he scarcely heard her. White light blinded him for a second as a mahogany octagonal box materialized into her weak arms. She tried to push the box toward him, which first drew a confused frown from the black cat before he grabbed it with a spare hand and set it aside, cautious as he used his other arm to hold her upright. Panic shot through him as she made the movement, but before he argued for her not to, the words willfully left her cracked lips first. "Take it."

"Bug-"

"Please."

"O-okay," he agreed, too preoccupied with thought to not. "T-Try not to move, M'lady." He spoke to her gently, his voice shaking. He offered a small smile as he glanced down at her, but the worry in his eyes faltered unspoken and cast away the calm air he tried to comfort her with. His attempts to convince her, and especially himself, that everything was fine were turning out to be futile. "I need to get you to a hospital."

"No-" Her panicked outburst was shortened as she spluttered out deep red from her lungs, and blood dribbled down her chin.

He grit his teeth together helplessly, and laced his fingers in hers with great care. His body was trembling as he held her, his heart thudding and the pit of his stomach spinning with dread.

He was all too aware, as she was, of the black spotted tendrils that engulfed her ankle. They both knew that no doctor could reverse or remove the destruction that slowly laid waste to her. No existing human medicine could save her, and he could see that her earrings were cracked. The reality caused his breathing to rush, and water pooled at his tear ducts. "I did this-"

Hawkmoth had thrown her in the way of his cataclysm, after all.

"You saved me," She interrupted him.

He had tried to, but her ankle was still caught in the blast.

She stared up at him with striking resolve through her pain. There was no hesitation in her voice, or expression. She weakly reached out with a blood-stained hand to palm his cheek. The first tear fell as he covered it with his glove. "Your cataclysm destroyed Hawkmoth's miraculous. It will take Nuuru time to regenerate. You've bought us all time, Chat. Paris is safe because of you."

"But you're not going to make it," his voice cracked.

"I-It's not that bad." She tried to reassure. But they both knew. "At least I won't have to deal with you constantly smelling like cheese, kitty."

"Tell me about it, M'lady." He choked out a strained laugh. He eyed the black spots that ascended to her hip and transferred slowly through the rest of her with a quivering lip. Time was fleeing from her, stolen by his ability. "I can't do this witho-"

"Y-you can." She whimpered. Her hand's touch lingered on his cheek, a small smile dancing on her lips that would ingrain itself into his memory, vivid like thick brush strokes on a canvas. Chat Noir, in the dwindling seconds, could barely find words to say in his despair, consumed by shock in living nightmare. "I, ladybug, relinquish the miracle box and proclaim Chat Noir the new Guardian." She spoke her sentence in a strong whisper.

Her dainty finger shook as it pushed a loose blonde lock behind his ear, bluebell eyes dimly meeting his green ones. "B-but, y-you and me against the world, remember, m'lady?"

"Coup de foudre." She smiled. "It was a clap of thunder."

Her arm fell limp and then her light was stolen from her gaze. She passed in a pool of her own blood, held in his arms, before she turned to dust.

The last particles of her carried with the wind and rain, and her ashes sifted through his hands like sand as he desperately tried to gather the last specks of her.

She had died smiling, before she spoke the words that broke him.

"That's when I fell in love with you, Adrien."

His scream of anguish was one that tore through the streets of a ruined Paris.


	2. A burning Paris

**Black Cat and His Lady**

Chapter One | A burning Paris

The French told tales of the mysterious black cat and ladybug that navigated the rooftops of the Parisian skyline.

They said that Chat Noir and Ladybug were the first heroes that rose to fight Hawk moth, the first super villain. France idolized the duo that wielded the powers of destruction and creation to fight for the greater good. The saviors of the city that soared over the highest peaks of Paris, battling akumas and freeing brainwashed civilians from the clutches of the notorious moth man.

The remainder of the world reasoned that the French were eccentric and fancied their stories of comic fantasy and kids playing costume. No one took seriously the risks posed by a grown man dressed in a butterfly suit that constantly got beaten down by children. Especially since Ladybug removed everyday consequences caused by real life crime when she used her miraculous to resurrect the dead and reverse architectural damage.

No one questioned the possible threat of the modern world awakening to old magic it didn't understand.

Not until the day it woke up to Paris burning.

Rena Rouge vaulted through the city's horizon, her feet skimming over wet slated roof tiles and balconies. Flames ran rampant across the city around her, like a wildfire scorching all that crossed its path. She was running into the fray, headed for the Eiffel tower where the largest fires were gathering. The lowdown from Ladybug she'd gotten in her last message was that, among multiple villains rampaging the city, a senti-monster calling itself Inferno was currently dealing the most offensive damage.

She'd have to get creative fighting a fire-manipulating amok given her skill set. However, Rena was a master of illusion and every other hero was currently tangled in with their own villains to defeat. They were each competing in a battle on a mile wide scope, the largest yet of Hawkmoth's attacks. The fact of which brought forth a worry in Rena's mind that he was either getting stronger or more attuned to his power somehow.

All her pondering was interrupted however, when she felt a foot reel into her rib cage as she ran, sending her flying to the tarred road below. As she braced for the sliding impact, she somehow landed on her feet, adrenaline coursing her veins and turned to face her attacker.

Purple irises in indigo sclerae.

"Mayura." The name rolled off her tongue with a venomous click as her eyes met the woman staring at her.

"Fox." Her aggressor replied coolly, a sadistic glint in her eye.

"Who exactly riled your feathers this time, bitch?" She snarled at the villain.

"No one in particular," she deflected. She unfolded the fan in her hand, preparing for another attack. The peacock holder paused mid-move, as though she was listening to something.

Hawkmoth.

Rena's thought was confirmed fast as she spoke. "Understood. I'm coming." Her irises flickered over the Eiffel tower, indicting their shared goal. Mayura returned her gaze back to the olive-skinned heroine stood in front of her, lips pressed in a thin line. "It seems I don't have time for your parlor tricks. Perhaps, another time."

"Like hell!" The hero bellowed back. Mayura smirked as she dived towards the illusion caster, her fan aimed to hit Rena's chest, before the orange suited heroine dispersed into thin air. Mayura grit her teeth and spun to find the illusionist jumping some rooftops away, having tricked her to catch a head start. Rena's soles hit the ground running as she hurried, using the earned time to her advantage to reach her destination as fast as super-heroine-ly possible.

Ahead of her, she could see the figures of Chat Noir and Ladybug sparring with their sworn enemy, the moth man himself. Rena could make out the amok, Inferno, blasting fire in attempt to distract Paris' favorite duo. Rena was quick to respond, blowing notes on her flute as she rushed to join the scene. From below on the ground, she was able to cast an illusion that made it look as if Chat were running at the amok.

The senti monster fell for her trap hook and sinker as he threw flame that bounced off rusted metal back onto him, sending him falling back. Where he, to her stupendous fortune, hit his head off another metal beam that knocked him out cold. It had been a gamble to to assume that his own ability could backfire on himself effectively, but the risk had been worth it.

The victory was short-lived, however.

She had taken a second gamble in that the pea-cocked villainess would not reach as fast that didn't work out as well.

Rena cried out as her legs were swept away from under her and Mayura closed in on her with a predatory glare before everything went black.

Her head was spinning when she came to, her eardrums thundering painfully inside her ears. Carapace's worried expression came into her view first as her vision grew less hazy and she realized the world had stilled from the commotion before. Surrounding them, the screams of civilians and commotion caused by villains had ceased, replaced with near silence.

"Did we win?" She asked, even as a grim feeling settled in her gut.

"I guess..." Carapace grimaced. His eyes avoided hers. "Not much of a victory, though."

The shelled hero supported her as she sat up. Rena wasn't injured, but whatever Mayura did really took a number on her stamina. She felt weak, and was certain she needed rest. She doubted she had it in her to face any more villains. She scanned the terrain around her, straining her eyes as she did. Her breath was caught in her throat as her eyes grew attuned to the scene before her.

No akumatized villains ran wild in the sight she seen before her. She would have been thankful if not for the scene that she saw instead.

Grey smoke filtered the air, and the strong stench of burning hit her nostrils as though her sense of smell just returned to her. Ordinary people ran around, faces covered in soot, dousing buckets on fires that raged around them, even as light rain drizzled from the sky like an answered prayer. Vast scything holes tore through the roads, numerous cars crashed or upturned on their side. Buildings she grew up walking past were laid bear and scorched, multiple walls collapsed around them entirely.

Panic thrived through the streets as people yelled incoherently at each other, working in teams to kill flames. Children, some alone and others accompanying adults or older children, wailed in each direction she looked. Heroes, people she recognized and worked with on missions all the time, jumped round the mess helping where they could. A shudder rose in Rena's spine as she spotted Viperion dotted in the distance lifting stone off a screaming man with likely mangled legs.

"Careful!" Carapace's outburst startled her as she was yanked away from their shared position, rolling mere inches away from where a flickering lamp post had just crashed as wires stemmed the cracked ground it originated. It had been seconds from falling on top of them.

But Rena barely registered it as she watched the scattered city. She breathed with tightness in her throat, inhaling and exhaling slowly to calm the unnerving panic rising in her chest.

This didn't look like they'd won.

It looked as though they'd survived a bombing.

"Where's ladybug?" She asked. Surely, she'd reverse this.

Carapace's eyebrows knit together, doubt in a grim expression he didn't voice. "I don't know." Rena followed his eyes as he glanced in a certain direction in the distance. "He's been like that for a long time."

Recognition crossed her face as she set her eyes on the back of the black cat. His hunched figure was sat on scorched slabs, his gaze fixated on peculiar white dust beneath his buried knees. His chest heaved up and down too, slowly like hers, his eyes transfixed on the ground.

Rena stood quickly, blood rushing to her head.

"Chat!" She called as she ran over to him, ignoring the exhausted shooting pains that fired through her shins, but haltedas she noticed him wear an unreadable expression when his face came into view. His face was written with a hollow expression she'd never seen him wear before.

"She knew me." He muttered quietly, as if he never heard her at all. She was surprised he responded to her at all. His eyes remained on that same spot, wearing the same lost look. "She said it was a clap of thunder."

Rena wasn't entirely sure what he was saying, and more concerned with other matters. "Chat Noir, where's ladybug?"

"Coup de foudre," the words rolled off his quivering lip. Rena's stomach twisted as she questioned what caused the distant look in his eye. What caused Chat Noir, Parisian superhero, to disassociate to a point where he couldn't connect the dots to bring his mind back to reality?

Her stomach was starting to really churn.

"She's gone."

A female voice came from behind them. Carapace and Rena spun their hands to see a hero they recognized as Bunnix stepped out a spinning blue portal. She vaguely remembered that she was a woman from a different time, her strange blue portal remaining behind her as her light footfalls echoed into the present. A burdened expression crossed her face.

"W-why are you here?"

"There are some things that need to be done." She vaguely informed them.

"What do you mean she's gone? Who?" Rena spat angrily.

"You already know," she cut her off coldly. "Hawkmoth threw her in the way of Chat Noir's cataclysm."

Rena's eyes widened and she felt dizzy, grabbing her head, her nails digging into her hair as she near ripped out the locks. She sat down to the ground with shaky knees before she crumbled down. Carapace was silent; the reality had set in earlier for her. He had already assumed the grim fate of Ladybug having watched a broken Chat Noir.

"B-but you could go back in time. Or I seen Viperion. He could use second cha-" Rena mumbled, any solution flying out her mouth she could think of.

"Nothing can be done," Bunnix reprimanded. As though that were explanation enough.

"Why not?" Rena barked out bitterly as this future woman.

"Because in every other timeline," She inhaled slowly. "Hawkmoth wins, and the world is destroyed."

Rena struggled to comprehend the flow of the conversation, or the dire consequences sure to follow. Fear raged through her and made her tremble with overwhelmed emotion. She only eyed Chat Noir's ring as it started beeping, green flashing off the black. He didn't even seem to register it.

Bunnix wordlessly dragged him to his feet, and he let her, his will lost to him in that moment. She draped the cat's arm over her shoulder and made way for her open portal.

"W-where are you taking him to?" She yelled, anger surging through her helplessly. "You can't just take one of ours and go back to your undamaged world!"

"I'll return soon," she said solemnly. It was the only reply she offered them.

"Don't you dare-" Rena screamed as her fist hit burnt metal of the Eiffel tower.

And then the two disappeared inside that portal.

"You fuc-"

"Alya," Carapace spoke her real name sternly, and it felt as though their identities no longer mattered, secret or not. The shelled hero had mostly remained quiet throughout the exchange with Bunnix, like he'd already known everything she would tell him. Like he had already ran each plan and outcome through his head.

It hurt that he too seemed to reach the conclusion that nothing more could be done.

How was she to take the word of a woman not of their time who had spoken to them coldly, avoided most their questions and disappeared with Chat Noir, the strongest remaining hero, through a large spinning portal they had such little knowledge of?

She dug her nails into her hand. "We should help the civilians," he spoke a second time, though softer. Carapace- or Nino, if nothing mattered anymore- angered her further with the fact that he was right. She turned on her side and delivered a swift nod in response before taking off in a singular direction to scope out people in need of rescuing.

Her emotions would just have to overwhelm her later, instead.


	3. Frozen in time

**Black Cat and His Lady**

Chapter Two | Frozen in Time

"You're looking pawfully pensive there, bug. Something the matter?"

Chat greeted her as his black leather soles dropped with practiced stealth on slated roof tiles. Navigating the terrain of Parisian rooftops was an art that required thought and technique to master. One slip of footing could cause problems even to a hero if they were high enough for a fall. Ladybug and Chat Noir danced the skyline of Paris with less thought than when they begun. Chat had the footwork down in little time, but Ladybug in particular had spent weeks cussing Parisian architecture and her own shoddy footing. She yoyo-ed herself in the jaw just as often she did akumatized villains, at first.

She'd always been quite vocal about her distaste to the jokes he made about it, too.

The polka-dotted lady lay on her back, one arm cushioned behind her slightly craned neck, glaring at a pale yellow sun rising in an orange and purple sky. "As fashionably late as ever, Chaton." She retorted, scolding him with a playful undertone, he could tell. One sneaky glance at his partner saw her donning an impish smirk, after all. The mischief didn't reach her eyes, however, and it was this that let him know something was up.

"It takes a little more than five minutes to look this good." He tutted, spinning his baton, light dancing off the silver as it reflected the dawn.

She laughed as her eyes met his. She hauled herself up by her elbows to sit in a more upright position to converse with him, hugging her knees to her chest. "Might need to get a new superhero stylist then, kitty."

"You wound me, bug." He placed a hand over his hurt heart, a humorous glint in his green pupils. "So much I might just get akumatized."

"That doesn't sound _so_ bad, does it?" She teased and threw a halfhearted smirk his way. "Less cat puns? An excuse to beat you up?"

"Are you alright, m'lady?" He voiced his concern, dispersing the joking nature of their conversation flow. He had even accidentally called her by his old nickname for her. She flinched with surprise to his question, and bit her bottom lip, lowering her eyes to a black roof slat before she composed herself and gazed back up at him, uncertainty written on her masked face.

"I don't want to burden you with my issues, Chat." She confessed. "It would be a sensitive topic." She clarified it as vaguely as she could think to, but to no avail, as she knew the black cat was smart enough to connect the dots even without the insinuation. Ladybug had rejected his feelings before, countless times.

"Is it that boy?" He asked, a slight protective edge rousing like a sleeping dragon in his voice. "I don't need to kick any asses, do I?"

Ladybug smiled at him wistfully. "He would never do anything to intentionally hurt anyone, Chat. He doesn't even know my feelings. I couldn't tell him," she nervously confessed, a little abashed by her own admittance of her fear. "I waited too long, and he found somebody else. It's just what happens."

"He sounds clueless," Chat snorted in reply, narrowing his eyes. "Any boy would be lucky to go meowt with the bug."

She laughed, the cadence in her voice having lifted a little higher than before. The sound brought some gladness to Chat Noir's mind. "Don't be a jealous tomcat, kitty!"

Chat's eyes lit up and he grinned at her. "You don't need to worry about me anymore, ladybug." He reassured her. "I met a girl, for real this time. Though, we've only been on one date so far and I wouldn't call her my girlfriend or anything just yet."

"I'm glad one of us is happy, Chaton."

"Don't be like that, bug." He frowned. "That boy doesn't even know what he's missing in a girl like you. Just say the word and I'll kick his oblivious ass."

"Thanks, Chat." The glance she had spared him was tired, but he couldn't help the beam of pride he felt that when she offered a small smile to him, her bluebell eyes were reignited with some light in them. Even when he tried to play off his crush as infatuation, and deny his feeling to spare himself the continued hurt, he couldn't help the fluttering that leapt in his heart whenever she smiled because of something he had done. He was her shield. Whether that meant he was protecting her from an akuma on the battlefield or her heart from a blind boy who didn't know how good he had it.

"Me and you against the world after all, huh, Chaton?" She had giggled.

"Always." He had promised.

And then his vision changed, and he was engulfed in a lake of water. Transparent liquid covered him, and slid away his leather suit. His heightened animalistic senses grew null as the black particles of his suit broke away from his skin and he opened the emerald green eyes of Adrien Agreste as the urge to inhale oxygen scratched desperately at his throat. Panic rushed him as he felt his body falling through space-less sea, his limbs pushed down by heavy weights. He held in his scarce breath, and swam for the surface with tired kicking legs and low stamina.

His vision stung as he broke surface and gasped as air filled his lungs. He took a few ragged breaths before realizing he was no longer swimming, and instead knelt on some sort of glass surface, light trickles of water rippling round his jeans. He lifted his palm away from the glass, and found himself perturbed when he felt his hand was dry, leaving behind even the water droplets as though he hadn't touched the liquid at all. He felt for his blonde locks, only to find dry bangs falling messily in front of his face when his hair had clung to his cheeks wet but a moment before.

Confusion crossed over his features, his eyebrows knitting together painfully. He raised his head, his gaze falling on a solitary figure painted in red with black circles walking toward him. He swallowed his breath in his throat, and almost bit his tongue as he narrowed his eyes at her.

"Bug?"

There she stood, gloved hands behind her back and a smile pressed onto a neutral expression. She seemed more robotic, somehow.

"Hello, kitty." She said, her voice ringing with the same mellifluous tone that made his chest ache.

"You're not dead?" His voice cracked.

Instead of answering his question, she smiled sadly. "In a way." She deflected.

"How can you be here?" So many thoughts ran through his head, but he found himself distracted from all of them by the vision in front of him. He'd seen her die. She'd turned to ash. He remembered the dust scatterings of her falling through his hands. A dry lump grew in his throat.

He had screamed when she died, but somehow he now felt empty instead.

"I'm a senti-monster from the future, kitty. I take the form of the person that's closest to you." She merely said, hands clasped behind her back as she strode toward him. "You may call me Centa. It's nice to meet you, Adrien."

It took a moment for him to recognize that his transformation had dropped from her words and he no longer wore the mask of his heroic alter ego. He confirmed it with a glance at his now naked fingers. "How do you know my identity?"

"I can read your inner most thoughts." She explained. "Though, I couldn't tell you how she knew you. I may only tell you things that you already know."

"Why am I here talking to you?" He questioned, and erred on the side of caution. It had to be expected given that he'd been fighting Hawkmoth last he recalled. He was confused, not sure if she was friend or foe. There were spaces, blanks in his memory that warped him. "How come I don't remember everything?"

"This is a place that provides sanctuary to rest your mind. On the outside, your mental state is currently unstable and unresponsive. In here, we are able to reverse some of the damage temporarily. Suppressed memories are very common. You will remember when you are ready. Here, we can work through the events surrounding your trauma to heal your mind, so that when you return to the outside your mind will hopefully no longer be broken." She explained, speaking and moving with the mannerisms of a clinical practitioner. "This is our solution. Consider it therapy for superheroes." She laughed at her last line, as though she had delivered the punchline to a good joke.

He didn't laugh. But when he thought about, Adrien did find himself surprisingly numbed. The weight that fell like a mountain on his shoulders from earlier was no longer there, and he didn't feel the wrenched anguish that had ripped through him from before. Despite Centa delivering a vast amount of information he shouldn't be able to process given all he had just experienced, he felt calm. The pain before had been unbearable, and it was as if his entire being had simply shattered. Pressing two fingers to his neck, he performed a quick test to find nothing irregular about his beating pulse.

"And when I go back?"

"The pain will come back, but you will be prepared." She clarified.

"How will I do it?" The lost weight was a burden lifted from his shoulders. He couldn't imagine feeling all that bottomless sorrow again. Even with nulled feeling, he feared the dread filling through him. His biggest reason for fighting was gone now.

"Because you have to." Centa explained. "The world needs Chat Noir, and your lady knew that." A pitying look washed over her eyes. "She always said you were the best partner she ever had, kitty."

_'That's when I fell in love with you, Adrien.'_

The words echoed at the back of his head. He could register a dull ache of emotion prodding at him in the spot, trying to seep through the gaps. "There must be some other reason you're here," he shook his head. He had to compose himself. "You can't be here just to bring me comfort. What is it I'm needed for?"

"Bingo! And you get a gold star," she giggled, her voice suddenly chipper. "Usually you're oblivious to everything, kitty. I'm surprised you got that."

"Um, thank you?" He replied bashfully, confusion etched across his face.

"There's a danger coming, kitty." Centa shrugged. "But I will tell you all in good time."

"While I'm in here, getting 'therapy,' what happens on the outside?" Adrien asked.

"Time here is frozen," she merely replied. "We are on a plane separate from your world."

He didn't pretend to understand her words, and instead just nodded. "What now?" The blonde continued his line of questioning.

A small feeling of relief filled through him at the news that Chat Noir at least wouldn't have to burden or abandon anyone whilst he was in this place, healing his mind or whatever it was he was really doing. He hoped that Centa was truly being honest, and that none of this turned out to be some cover up for his ultimate hell. No matter what, as scrambled as his mind was, he at least knew Hawkmoth had to be defeated.

With no idea of any of the events partaking on the outside, he simply figured he'd give Centa the benefit of the doubt. If he trusted her, or whatever pronouns the creature used, he could at least get out faster. He was almost certain it had been Bunnix, a hero meant to be chosen by Ladybug in the future, who had taken him here as well. He wasn't certain how Bunnix was still running around if his lady were also meant to be dead, but he knew it wasn't impossible that she had been chosen by a different ladybug.

The idea of another made him feel like sinking. No one could replace his crime fighting partner. But he had to push away the thought because he couldn't give into the emotions persistent to ruin him, that he felt trying to squeeze through cracks in his sanity. There were things to be done.

The stranger with the face of his lady grinned in response. "Now we begin."


	4. Memory

**Black Cat and His Lady**

Chapter Three | Memory

"Marinette."

Her name left his lips as a whisper, his breath knocked out of him, something twisting like a knife in his gut. His head throbbed, leaving the distinct impression that had him feeling as if he had forgotten something. Like there was something important he had to do. He didn't know why there was an ominous foreboding aching in his chest as he gazed upon his friend.

"H-Hey, Adrien." She greeted him cheerfully, offering him a shy smile.

A feeling like deja vu, accompanying an indescribable cloud shrouding his judgement, washed over him before he realized he'd froze up in front of his desk.

That was right.

It wasn't unusual to see Marinette in the mornings. The Gorilla often dropped Adrien off at school much earlier than his classmates would arrive. It wasn't something the blonde minded. Employees of his father had busy schedules, and he was just thankful to see his friends everyday. He'd noticed some time ago that Marinette started appearing before him, sat at the back of the class as she doodled in her sketchbook with a face so serene he could feel the weight of the world lifting from his shoulders.

In passing, he had wondered what thoughts crossed her mind to make her expression so peaceful. He normally caught the spectacle on the few occasions he'd entered the classroom without her noticing. Whenever he made his presence known, however, she would revert to the cautious stuttering Marinette he knew. It wasn't something he held against her, despite the disappointment he tried to ignore whenever he realized she was still cautious around him after being friends for nearly half a year.

"Is something wrong, Adrien?" She tilted her head, concern laced in her voice.

Despite her caution, though, it was easy to remind himself that she was nervous in every situation he'd seen her in, unless she was with Alya or a close friend.

Somehow, her concern hurt.

"I'm alright, thanks. What are you drawing today? Any new designs?" He reassured her with a polite smile as he changed topics. He sat by his desk, dropping his bag on the floor lightly, mindful of Plagg, who was definitely rummaging around for Camembert crumbs.

"J-Just doodling," Marinette smiled bashfully. Bluebell eyes fixated on the pencil she held in her fingers, her body seeming to almost curl into itself as her back slouched to appear smaller.

He raised an eyebrow at her and shifted in his seat to view her side on. Adrien's alter ego was the curious black cat, so of course when she deflected his question and grew tense, a little Chat Noir shone through as he stole a glance at the neat pencil lines. "Who is that?" He glanced the rough sketch tracing the outline of a male's features for only a moment before the artist shrieked out loud with a distinguishable '_eep_!' and hid the sketch by grasping it to her chest.

"I-It's no one- I mean, i-it's nothing." Her eyes nervously darted round the room as though she'd been caught doing the forbidden.

Adrien's amusement got the better of him, and he wiggled his eyebrows at her as he practically purred. "It's alright, Marinette," he drawled in sing-song tone and shrugged his shoulders. "I won't tell your crush I caught you drawing him. Although, I'm sure he really wouldn't mind seeing himself as the subject of one of the talented Marinette Dupain-Cheng's masterpieces." He winked at her as he donned an impish grin.

Her cheeks flushed as her eyes landed on his with a sparkling curiosity held in them. "Would he really think that...?" She muttered quietly, grazing her teeth over her bottom lip. The blonde frowned as she openly doubted herself. It bothered him that she had so many insecurities, especially when she had so many talents.

He reached out a hand to rest on her shoulder, extending a gentle comfort to ease her overthinking mind. "Of course he should. You're an amazing girl, Marinette. You can do so many incredible things." He smiled warmly, and reassured her. "Plus you're kind and you look out for others. Who wouldn't fall for a girl like that?"

Her eyes grew bigger as did her blush. "Adrien..."

"Besides, I don't really think you need to worry about it." He laughed as he lifted his hand and leaned back into his seat.

She knit her eyebrows together, confused. It amused him how oblivious the girl could be.

"Yeah," he gave her a satisfied nod as he clarified. "Luka definitely likes you." It was hard not to see the chemistry of the pair whenever they interacted. Marinette transformed into a different person around the musician. She certainly didn't laugh like that around Adrien. She didn't even stutter around the guy. And only an idiot would fail to catch Luka's obvious stares.

The two were clearly a good match for each other. "Oh." Was all she said as she released a dismal sigh.

"Hah. Stop flirting with Adrien like you've got a chance." A spoiled snort resounded in an echo as a dramatic entrance was made. "As if anyone could really like you, Dupain-Cheng. Those earrings are last year's fashion disaster. It's a shame Adrikins is too kind for his own good."

"Chlo-" Adrien sighed.

"Oh, stuff it, Chloe! At least I don't run to Daddy each time I'm mildly inconvenienced, you condescending brat!"

Chloe made a point of checking her painted nails. "What's that, Sabrina?" She fiddled with her pierced lobe as she smirked at the ginger beside her. "Maybe I should get my hearing checked. I can't hear myself think over this cow's mooing."

"Why are you such a bi-" Marinette made a point to stand.

"Enough!" He caught the attentions of the arguing pair as Adrien uncharacteristically raised his voice in exasperation.

Predictably, as usually happened, Marinette's meekness had dissipated as soon as the Mayor's daughter appeared, as one glared down the other with tempers flaring. It was worrying how quickly the bluenette's composure changed. It was frustrating that he'd only really seen her stand so confident when personally challenged by another female, though the only examples he knew of were Chloe or Lila.

He was glad she could stand up for herself if need be, but it irked him to the nth degree that neither her nor Chloe could be the bigger person and cast aside their differences. In these moments, the two of them were both so stubbornly proud in their interactions he could place one of them in front of a mirror and not see beyond the physical differences. The blonde was patient, but it was frustrating that he could count on both hands twice over just how many times he had to mediate their cat fights.

"I don't get why you always stick up for the spoiled princess, Adrien. She caused most of the akumas in this class." Alya's unimpressed scowl greeted them as she made a timely appearance next to her boyfriend, his best friend, Nino, who suddenly piqued an interest at the various drawings and scrawlings littering the classroom walls.

"Like you're so innocent, Cesaire." Chloe scoffed.

"What did I do?" Alya narrowed her eyes.

"Uh, please. You're such a control freak. Walking around like you own the place with your ridiculously obedient boyfriend constantly by your side."

"Excuse me! Like you can talk-" Alya visibly bubbled in rage. Marinette, who had shriveled at Adrien's outburst, appeared right by Alya's side with a consoling hand on Alya's arm. Shouts filled the classroom that morning even more as students came packing on in. The drama didn't die down until a loud holler from Ms Bustier signaled her arrival and stunned them.

It was strange looking back to think that it was one of his most innocent memories.

"They're all quite lively, aren't they?"

A soft laugh echoed in the air, a blast of wind shuddering through him as the scene of ensuing chaos in his classroom stilled to white.

Once more, he found himself treading water as he swam upward in a void sea. And then, like before, he was retracting his neck from the shallow water that had swallowed him to show the memory. Thin ripples pooled around his knees as he inhaled a deep breath and cast his eyes to the polka-suited senti monster with his partner's face.

"Are you able to take another form?" He inquired.

To which the response he was given was the mildest of shrugs he'd ever gotten, only a slight nudge of her shoulders. "Not for this."

He simply sighed and didn't challenge it. "How did that memory help me? I haven't forgotten my friends."

"But you are forgetting one thing."

Centa replied, kneeling down as her fingertips brushed the water, and grinning before his legs fell out from under him, his invisible platform transported away to some other place, and water engulfed his lungs. His eyes clenched shut out of habit as his head spun.

And then he exhaled, green eyes widening as he grabbed a fistful of his blonde locks in an attempt to stop himself reeling over, motion sickness consuming him until he suddenly collided face first into a steal beam. Merciless laughter irked him as he scrunched one eye shut. He sent the presence behind him a pouty glare as he nursed a thumping headache.

His heart flipped at the sight of his keeled over partner, shamelessly basking in his suffering.

"I thought a cat always landed on its feet, Chaton." She mocked him.

His chest stung.

Because she was so blisteringly beautiful in his vision; a perfectly preserved image capturing the hitch of her laugh and the mischievous glint in her eye, the finest tiniest details appearing before him like a brilliant painting.

She looked so alive.

He had so many things, seeing her again, he wished he'd say. Like '_I lo__ve you.' _Or '_I'm sorry.' _He wanted to profess all the things he felt, wanted to berate himself for saying nothing before it was too late. He opened his mouth- to warn her. To tell her to stay alive, to plea for her to not be so reckless anymore. But this was a memory, and so he could only have responded in the way he had back then, even as he attempted in vein to alter it.

And then the memory took the conscious thought from him, as he lived once again in the very moment.

He smirked. "I can't help it when it's you I'm falling for, bug." He whistled, downplaying the show of his clumsy footing with shameless flirting that came naturally to him with a black mask on.

"I wonder how many girls that line actually works on," she simply laughed and shook her head at him.

The Parisian fighting duo both paused as their attention was grabbed by the moving pixels blasting color on a flat screen through the window of a tech-selling shop. The local news was soundlessly replaying footage of their last battle but the pair didn't need audio to remember it.

The footage of miraculous users, heroes he had fought with, being controlled by Hawkmoth and manipulated to reveal their identities had struck him hard when the faces of his classmates appeared to him unmasked. It had felt surreal to find out about Carapace, and it wasn't something Adrien had spoken about with Nino yet.

Suffice to say, the media had hit up a storm.

Questions were asked, speculations were made and conspiracy theorists flocked to internet forums. There was a nationally spread mixed public response, with new both negative and positive.

His classmates had been unprepared for the interviews and reporters, and the stardom and fans gained near overnight. Alya Cesaire, in particular, gained significant celebrity status when it was pointed out that the lady blogger was the third most powerful hero in all France, who while fighting crime herself, had been a reliably sourced hero informant to the public. Luka Couffaine, known already as an up and coming young musician, also gained an immense following. And the day before, the mayor had bestowed them with medals as honorary heroes of the city.

Multiple individuals came forward to praise the teenagers that used to fight in costume, while others questioned the morality of children putting themselves in danger and deemed the Parisian police force incompetent. Negative press speculated about the ages of Ladybug and Chat Noir themselves and sowed doubts in the reliability of their heroes in the populace. More questions arose about the origins of their abilities, many theorists resolutely agreed on the likelihood that the unmasked duo were students attending Francoise Dupont High School, and on one occasion thus far, Alya had walked out mid-interview when accused of withholding information.

Unbeknownst to the media, however, was the true cost of that fight.

Ladybug and Chat Noir had been left the two last standing heroes, and though neither voiced them, doubts had seeped poison into their previously unwavering motivations. They had been betrayed by the bee miraculous holder, Hawkmoth had grown exponentially stronger, and they had suffered a massive blow by losing the other heroes.

But worst of all, they had been rendered masterless, and Ladybug had become the untrained guardian of the miraculous.

"How do I do that?" She had muttered the sentence so quietly a normal ear would've missed it, but Chat's keen cat senses picked on it with ease.

"You can lean on me if you need to every once in a while, bug."

A sad smile, a disheartened glance in his direction and a bad habit of chewing her lip. It wasn't often that Ladybug let herself show vulnerability, wasn't often that she let herself simply be human, because that meant acknowledging that she as a superhero could be weak. And she prided herself on being everything but.

She simply shook her head at him. "How do you do it, Chat? How are you so unshaken?"

He was unsure, but it didn't affect him like it did her. It was a sad thought that passed, he supposed, that the boy beneath the mask was used to standing on unstable foundations. That his life had essentially been a tirade of such by way of luck.

But as long as there was one foundation, something to stand on, then he knew his feet wouldn't fall out from under him.

"Cause I still got you, bug."


	5. Unreachable

A/N: Just a note that the story is essentially now going to be told in way of flashback till it leads up to the events of the first and second chapters!

~Saki

* * *

**Black Cat and His Lady**

Chapter Four | Unreachable

"Must be weird," Nino teased him, hands in his pockets, leaning against the door of a closed locker as Adrien tidied his. "Finding out your new girlfriend was a superhero."

The blonde laughed at the absurdity of his friend. "Says the superhero boyfriend of the infamous Rena Rouge," he retorted. "And you look like a teenage mutant ninja turtle."

Nino snorted, feigning mock offense at the notion, though the stupid grin that encompassed his face a second thereafter left the impression he was really swelling with pride.

"Besides, me and Kagami have only been on one date," he added. Adrien liked her, that much was true, but he had complicated differing feelings that were hard to decipher.

On one hand, he was trying to move on from Ladybug. The professionalism that came with their responsibilities required them to keep a certain distance, despite their friendship, that prevented them from ever really knowing each other while sharing the one secret that no one else knew. Even if she hadn't rejected his advances, and he'd worn her down as he used to hope, nothing could have came out of it.

On another hand, however, Adrien didn't want to use Kagami as a rebound. She'd confessed to him, and he had reciprocated because there were fledgling feelings there. Whether that grew to be more, he couldn't know.

They had both agreed to take it slow.

"Yeah, I didn't see it coming." Nino shrugged. "But you do you, dude."

It seemed as good a moment to bring the topic up.

"So what's it like?" Adrien inquired. "Being Carapace?"

A mournful regret passed over his friend's amber eyes, and Adrien immediately wished he could retract the question. He and Ladybug had only announced publically a few days ago that unmasked heroes had to retire their suits, both due to the nature of the job and for the protection of their families. The news, like anything they did those days, caused a media uproar.

Adrien hated that, even now, he had to keep up the pretense that he was an ordinary civilian to his best friend. Surely there existed an alternate realm wherein he got to confide in Nino, to share the experience, reassure him he wasn't alone, that didn't result in dire consequences.

And maybe that was a selfish thought, because Nino wasn't technically alone. He had Alya, and the other ex-heroes that he could confide in. He could open himself to the public now, and he'd already joked around at the idea his superhero cred would jump start his DJ career.

He figured it was a selfish thought because he was projecting his own fear of isolation onto his best friend, when he hadn't really considered how Nino felt about it.

"It's amazing," Nino eventually replied. "Parkour with superpowers is wicked, dude." An indescribable expression materialized on his tanned features, and Adrien recognized the familiar feeling that emitted from it.

Because he had felt it.

Words failed to describe the experience; the first time a thirteen year old boy, suffocated by mansion walls and sheltered from the world, encountered freedom he was thrown in the deep all at once. Speed, strength and adrenaline dominated him when he swung his baton over old French architecture and, for a split second as he glided sky, he overlooked the timeless city that never ceased moving.

From the scarlet and lemon lines of rapid-flowing roads to the ant-sized dotted humans maneuvering the normal world, from the zealous wind blasting his skin with the scent of salt to his pulse battering in his eardrums, and from the carnal elation that arose in his gut whenever he donned the mask of Chat Noir, Adrien had learnt young exactly the world he belonged to.

Being a hero came to him as natural as breathing.

Nino's grin was infectious, and the blonde returned it with his own. "It sounds awesome."

It was later on, near the start of their patrol, close to reaching the rendezvous point with his partner, that Chat Noir released a breath prior to audibly hollering out his excitement, mid swing, to the sky around him.

He was greeted with an amused glance as he smoothly landed on roof slats and spun his baton before catching it and attaching it to his belt. "Hello, kitty." She spoke first. "You look happy."

"Pawsomely so, red."

He couldn't help the wide beam on his face as his mood shot to new heights meeting up with the bug. It had been difficult, when he decided to move on from her, at first to not call her m'lady or flirt with her outrageously as his alter ego often wanted to do just for flirting's sake. A couple weeks had passed since, and while she remained very much a presence in his thoughts, it didn't hurt as much as it had. He found himself enjoying it as he fell into the routine of their evening patrols, and realized nothing about their playful bickering ways had really changed.

"We should be more cautious," she'd frowned at some point as he practically danced across roof tiles, possessed by hyper cat energy.

"You sound like an old woman, bug." He teased her for being so uptight.

"Maybe I am." She, with halfhearted seriousness, glared him down for being too carefree.

"Why?"

"Hawkmoth hasn't made a move in a while. He has to be up to something." She had pointed out.

When a whole month passed and the villain had seemingly disappeared without a trace, Ladybug had grown increasingly worried, alert nigh to the point of paranoia. Adrien found himself rendered quickly bored with the lack of villain action, and pestered Ladybug to spar more when he wasn't offering a listening ear. She began to lament more on the loss of their mentor, and it became clear to him exactly why she'd really become increasingly anxious.

She was still questioning her ability to be guardian.

The thought struck him dumb some time on his fourth or fifth outing with Kagami, his emerald pupils staring down his untouched ice cream cone, one scoop of orange and another mint, as if he were issuing a personal challenge. Like he was going to beat it down with the style of an anime character.

"Your ice cream's starting to melt." Kagami said, filling the silence.

"Yeah..." He felt bad for not wanting to eat it. Andre's ice cream was the best in Paris. Orange and mint didn't make for a bad combination, but he found he didn't have a sweet tooth for it. He forced himself to eat it anyway to prevent being wasteful.

"Is there something wrong, Adrien?" She asked. "You look deep in thought."

"Huh? Oh, sorry! Don't worry, Kagami, I'm completely fine. Just a little tired." He rubbed at the back of his neck, guilt having risen in him when he realized he hadn't made the effort to partake in their date and enjoy himself. Here Kagami was having to make small talk with him to cover the awkwardness of their time together. She'd given up what precious little of her free time she got to come out to get to know him and he'd essentially blanked her. "Is there anything you'd like to do?"

She blinked at him for a moment, evidently surprised that he was engaging her in conversation, but offered a comforting smile. "I don't really mind," she merely revealed.

Oh, crap. He swore he was too indecisive for his own good. "Should we think of a few places and maybe narrow it down then?" He nervously laughed. He was awful, amateurish, embarrassing, at this entire dating game. It had to be criminal to be this bad. If he were masquerading round as Chat Noir, he'd shamelessly flirt and brag, and skip around leaving an impression, numerous girls either swooning or cursing his name. Those were the mixed reactions he'd received previously, after all.

But Kagami was dating Adrien, not Chat, and he felt bashful over how much of a coward he actually was without the guise of his mask.

The two of them, unable to commit to any real option, eventually settled for a walk along the Seine. Which was nice, he could admit to himself at the time, with a gentle heat radiating from the sun that didn't scorch them on that day.

When it came round to patrol that evening though, his mind had been on anything but the minor distraction. Nothing had really distracted him from the meek, almost defeated, look that Ladybug had worn the past couple shifts. He didn't know when it had gotten so bad, but even on his date with another girl, the crush he was trying so desperately to move on from had stayed at the forefront of his mind. He was disgusted with himself for it, because Kagami deserved better than that.

"Red, please talk to me." He gently asked her.

He hadn't expected her to. Ladybug never did. She carried her burdens, buried them and pushed him away when he tried to help because she fully believed it was better not to let him suffer them with her. In the months he'd known her, he'd seen her cry a few stray tears. Seen her feel sorry for herself, and opened up to him with vague minor details about problems in her civilian life that bothered her.

That night, when he asked, she came unraveled, and broke down in front of him for the first time.

No words were exchanged for half an hour, as he leaned his back into the stony bricks of a chimney that protruded outward the roof they sat atop of, and she sobbed into his shoulder, as she sat right beside him. It broke him, too, to hear his lady, something he tried not to consider her, shatter in this way. She withdrew from him, when she'd calmed, after some time, and apologized when she'd left snot on his suit, and fell back into the wall aside him.

"Was it about Fu?" He asked.

She replied with a tired shake of her head. "Not this time..."

"You don't have to talk about it, bug." He reassured. "But you're free to."

"That boy I tried to get over two months ago-" she surprised him. "It didn't work."

His chest ached from her admission. He couldn't really think of a way to comfort her, no advice to give her. He'd been stuck in a similar pathetic rut himself. Dug himself an Adrien-sized hole to cower in as she increasingly played a back and forth in his mind whilst he tried to move on from her. It didn't help when he saw her everyday, which was just the nature of their shared job, when he barely found time to see Kagami.

He wished he never fell for her in the first place.

"It would be better if I never fell in love with him," a salty tear ran down her cheek. "He's unreachable."

As was she, he'd finally concluded.

"Thank you, Chaton."


End file.
